Fluid treating device



AJuly 7, 1936. J. K, RUMMEL FLUID TREATING DEVICE Filed July 14 1931 YPatented July 7, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLUIDI TREATING DEVICE Application July 14, 1931, Serial No. 550,807-

8 Claims.

This invention relates to a fluid treating device wherein auid mixtureV may be treatedA to remove gaseous matter therefrom, and has associated therewith a device for testing the treated Huid to determine certain characteristics.

An object of the invention is to provide an apparat'us for receiving a processed iluid, separating volatile matter therefrom, and may include a device associated therewith for testing the'remaining treated iluid to determine at least one of its physical characteristics. I

A specific object of the invention is to provide an apparatus to receive a vapor resulting from the evaporation of a liquid, to condense the vapor and separate gaseous matter therefrom, and also contemplates incertain instances the testing of the condensate to determine the quantity of non-gaseous impurities remaining therein.

Thesemand other objects will be apparent to those skilled in this particular; art Yfrom the claims and the description in the specification in connection with the drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a device illustrative of the invention.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view of anapparatus used in testingv a sample obtained from the device illustrated in Figure 1. A

The embodiment ofthe invention which has been chosen for purposes of illustration, shows a separator device in conjunction with testing apparatus especially adapted for determining impurities in steam. A

Referring 'to Fig. 1 of the drawing, a mainA steam pipeV III has a sampler tube II disposed 4Within it 35.e which is connected through aconnector I2 to a throttle valve I3.V Adouble valve Ill is located in the connector intermediateV of the sampler tube and the valve I3 and is adapted to regulate the pressure of the steam admitted to the throttle valve I 3; A pipe I5 is connected to tlie outlet end of the valve I3, and has a cooling jacket I5 surrounding it for a portion of its length.

The end of the pipe I5 `remote from the end connected tothe outlet of the throttle valve I3 45 extends through a heady I9 of a separator chamber 20. This endy of the-pipe I5 is connected to a distributing or spreader nozzle 2 I. The jacket I6 surrounding thepipe I 5 for a portion of its length has an outlet fitting 22 at the end adjacent the 50 valve I3 and an inlet fitting 23Y at its other end. The fitting 23 is connected through a suitable tting 24 and valve 26, which may be thermostaticallyV controlled, to a supply pipe 25. The

valve 26 controls the amount ofY cooling medium 5E; a Aadmitted to the jackenls. lWhen the device is in operation the valve is opened and Water is passed through the space surrounding the pipe I5 in a direction counter to the flow of steam therein. By Virtue of the cooling effect of the cooling medium, which may be water, a portion of the steam is condensed.

Within the chamber 20 is located a cooling coil 30 which has an inlet 32 and an outlet 3|, the inlet end of this coil extends through the base 33 of the casing 20 and is connected by means of a T fitting 34 andV through a suitable fitting 36 controlledby a valve 35, to the inlet of the water supply- 25. Another branch 36 of the T tting 34, in conjunction with a valve 3l and fitting 38, provides a supply of the cooling medium to a jacket' 39. The jacket 39 surrounds an inner pipe III] which is connected to the fluid Within the separator 20. The cooling medium is passed through the jacket 39 in such amounts that the fluid Within the pipe 4U is cooled to any temperature desired. The cooling medium then passes out the jacket 39 to an outlet tting 4I which is joined through a connector 42 to a T fitting 43, one branch of which is connected to the outlet end 3I of the coil 30.

In testing steam to determine the amount of solids contained therein by the conductivity method, the steam must be condensed and any appreciable amount of CO2 (carbon dioxide) or similar volatile associated with the steam will materially aiect the conductivity of its condensate so that an accurate determination of the amount of solids is very diilicult unless the condensate is substantially free from CO2.

In view of the foregoing, it is obvious that the device just described is readily adapted to separate carbon dioxide from steam and its condensate Which is to be delivered to a conductivity cell for obtaining data for the determination of the amount of solids or equivalent moisture as boiler Water, contained therein by calculations to be described later. When the device is used for this purpose the operation is as follows:

The steam sample is obtained from the main line Ill by means of the sampler tube II, and the pressure of this steam is controlled by the valve I4. This steam is passed through the tube I5 into the interior of the separator chamber 20, in amounts controlled by the needle throttle valve I3. In passing through the tube I5 it is subjected to the cooling effect of Water admitted to the outer tube I6 by means of the valve 26. Because of this cooling, a portion of the steam is condensed so that it is a mixture of steamand water that is projected into the separator chamber 20 by means of the distributor nozzle 2I` and separation of dissolved gases in the mixture takes place. f

By means of the cooling coil 30, the mixture of steam and water within the separator is cooled further so that virtually all of the steam is condensed. A vent 44 is provided in the casing head I9 and the CO2 separated from the steam is permitted to pass out this vent. If desired the CO2 and vany steam mixed therewith can be vented to a condenser 44 and collected. The water within the separator 20 is maintained at a desired level (preferably above coil 30) by regu` lating the vapor pressure (within the chamber) and by raising and lowering an electrical conductivity cell 45. Inspection of the Water level may be made by means of pet cocks 46 or by the installation of a gauge glass, which may be connected at the bottom end, to the drainage cock 40 and at the top end to one of the openings in the top head; no top connection being required if the pressure inside the separator is essentially the same as the atmosphere.

A proper balance of steam and water inside theseparator is maintained by regulating the steam valve I3vand the flow of cooling water through the coils I6 and 3D so that a small percentage of steam is vented with the separated CO2 through the vent 44.

- The steam condensate of which the solids con` 7tent is to be determined, and which has been' substantially freed of associated CO2, is drawn from the separator 20 through the tube 38 which is surrounded by the jacket 39. This condensate passes by gravity through the conductivity cell 45. The liquid level in the conductivity cell is automatically regulated bythe height (or the position) of the discharge connection on the side of the conductivity cell.

Inv passing through the tube 38 tothe cell '45 the wateris cooled to a desired degree, which may be 25 degrees centigrade or'77 degrees Fahrenheit. The exact temperature of `vthe condensate is noted by Va thermometer in the conductivity celland the conductivity is determined' by` means of a three-position switch 49 and an electrical conductivity indicator and/or recorder 56. A condensate overflow 48 conveys the condensate toa sample bottle 41.

A device 55 is provided for obtaining'a sample of boiler water, and comprises a Valve controlled pipek 56, connected to the water side of a boiler drum (not shown), and which passes through a suitable fitting 5l to a cooling coil 58 and fitting 59 to a second electrical conductivity cell 60 elec` measured quantity of steam condensate of which Y theA conductivity and CO2 content is known, oneV per centof this sample of boiler water is added to theV steam condensate in the titration cell 'I0 and after measuring-the. electrical conductivity of the mixture by means ofthe measuring device 50, the parts per million of'solids or per cent moisture (boiler water) in the original Sample of, Steam 'ing passed through the jacket.

condensate may be calculated by the followingV formulae:

P. p. m. of solids in steam= LS--Wc 'SX 100 XP. p. rn. solids 1n boiler water where Ls=conductivity of steam condensate at stand-Y ard temperature.

Wc=total conductivity correction due to car-V bon dioxide and pure water. Y

s=eonducnv1ty increase due to adding 1%V *boiler water to steam condensate, resultV corrected to standard temperature. Y

P. p. m.=parts per million Per cent equivalent moisture:

S where symbols are the same as those given above.

l In Vconnectionwithfthese calculations it is be noted that the p. p. m, of solids in the steaml being that it is more desirable to have readings in the same dilution range and subject to the same variations asY the steam'condensate sample. vThis apparatus may also `be .used to remove carbon dioxide vfrom, various water supplies, ofl which the conductivity. or solids content is tol bedetermined. Inthis case it may be necessary to heat the sampleuto the boiling point, such as byl a coil similar tov I6 vwhich would be used asl a heati g unit, steam. orV other heating medium be- With respect to the separatorjust described inrconnectionwith the above testing apparatus,VV

it is to be understoodthat its use is not limited toassociation with a testing device, for example,

instead of asteam line Ysucha's shown at I0,. the separator might be connected with an evapo-` rator for the Vpurposenof separating carbon diox-V ide gas and oxygen from, the steam generated therein. When usedin this connection, vthe testing apparatus would of course be eliminated andY several separators might be used inlseries.

In addition, such a separator as described would be extremely useful in the purification of petroleumV or other liquids and in the fractional distillation thereof. When used in connection with such a device the temperature control by means of cooling coils I6 and 30 could be regu-Vv lated so that products of high volatile character` isticswould be vented'from Vthe casing, in this,

case through. the condenser 44C A specific apparatus has been described inVL some detail as illustrativeof this invention, but it is to be yunderstood that changes, additions, substitutions and omissions `may be made therein within the spirit of the invention as'vdefined by Vthe appended claims.l

uring the electrical conductivity of the condenstate at a known temperature. e

vsteam and separating substantially all of the` carbon dioxide therefrom and subsequently meas- 2. The method of measuring the solid content of steam mixed with an undesirable amount of carbon dioxide which comprises condensing a representative sample of the steam and separating substantially all of the carbon dioxide therefrom, measuring the electrical conductivity of the condensate at a known temperature, and comparing the conductivity measurement with the electrical conductivity of the condensate with the addition of a relatively small percentage of unevaporated water at a known temperature.

3. The method of measuring the solid content of steam mixed with an undesirable amount of carbon dioxide which comprises condensing a representative sample of the steam and separating substantially all of the carbon dioxide therefrom, measuring the electrical conductivity of the condensate at a known temperature, and comparing the conductivity measurement less a correction for the amount of dissolved carbon dioxide in the condensate with the electrical conductivity of the condensate with the addition of a relatively small percentage of unevaporated Water at a known temperature.

4. The method of measuring the solid content of steam mixed with an undesirable amount of carbon dioxide which comprises condensing a representative sample of the steam and separating substantially all of the carbon dioxide therefrom, separately measuring the electrical conductivity of the condensate and the unevaporated boiler water, and calculating the solid content of the steam by the formula:

P. p. m. of solids in steam= Ii) XP. p. m. solids in boiler water where Ls is the electrical conductivity of the steam condensate at a known temperature; Wc is total conductivity correction value for the remaining carbon dioxide present and pure water; S is the conductivity of the boiler water at the known temperature; and p. p. m. is parts per million.

5. The method of measuring the solid content of steam mixed with an undesirable amount of carbon dioxide which comprises condensing a representative sample of the steam and separating substantially all of the carbon dioxide therefrom, separately measuring the electrical conductivity of the condensate per se and with the addition of 1% of boiler water, and calculating the solid content of the steam by the formula:

P. p. m. of solids in steam= (Ls- Wc) SX 100 where Ls is the electrical conductivity of the steam condensate at a known temperature; Wc is a conductivity correction value for the remaining carbon dioxide present and pure water; S is the conductivity increase after adding 1% of boiler water to the steam condensate and corrected for the known temperature; and p. p. m. is parts per million.

6. The method of determining the solids in steam mixed with objectionable gases which comprises condensing a portion of a steam sample, separating the uncondensed steam and objectionable gases from the condensate, cooling the condensate to a predetermined temperature, and measuring the electrical conductivity of the cooled condensate.

'7. The method of determining the solids in steam mixed with carbon dioxide which comprises condensing a portion of a steam sample, withdrawing the uncondensed steam and carbon dioxide from the sample while the condensate temperature is near the boiling point, then cooling a condensate sample to a predetermined temperature, and measuring the electrical conductivity of the cooled condensate.

8. Apparatus for measuring the solids in steam mixed with a gas comprising in combination, a condenser for separating the gas and condensing steam having an inlet for the steam and gas, a gas outlet from said condenser, a cooling coil associated with said condenser, a condensate discharge pipe from said condenser, an electrolytic cell to which said discharge pipe leads, and means for continuously determining the electrical conductivity of the condensate in the cell.

JOHN K. RUMMEL.

XP. p. m. solids in boiler Water 

